Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To be worthy of; merit: synonym: earn.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To merit; be worthy of; incur, as something either desirable or undesirable, on account of good or bad qualities or actions; more especially, to have a just claim or right to, in return for services or meritorious actions; be justly entitled to, as wages or a prize.
- To serve or treat well; benefit.
- To repay by service; return an equivalent for (service rendered).
- To require; demand the attention of.
- To merit; be worthy or deserving: as, he deserves well of his country.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb To be worthy of recompense; -- usually with
ill or withwell . - transitive verb To earn by service; to be worthy of (something due, either good or evil); to merit; to be entitled to
- transitive verb obsolete To serve; to treat; to benefit.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To be
entitled to, as a result of past actions; to beworthy to have. - verb obsolete To
earn ,win . - verb obsolete To
reward , to give in return for service.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be worthy or deserving
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"None deserve the fair but the _brave_ [_deserve the fair_."] "They postpone the thing which [_they ought to do, and do not] but_ which [_thing_] they cannot avoid purposing to do."
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Samuel Kirkham
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To say that evangelical Christians believe that non-evangelicals deserve to suffer and die is like saying that people who sell life and disability insurance believe that those who don’t follow their advice to buy insurance *deserve* to suffer and live in penury and/or have their families suffer and live in penury if they die or become disabled.
The Volokh Conspiracy » HRW’s Whitson Defends Fundraising in Totalitarian Countries: 2009
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Chris is a fine chap and a fine journo who has done wonders with the dusty old left-wing mag over the past few years, and his efforts to save the title deserve to succeed.
Paul Linford 2008
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Mr. Porter insisted upon finishing the Little Chicken series, so that 'deserve' is a poor word for any honour that might accrue to him for his part in the book.
Gene Stratton-Porter: A Little Story of The Life and Work and Ideals of "The Bird Woman" 1926
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I suspect the appropriate answer for a true bibliophile, someone who gives books as physical objects the full love and respect they deserve, is Bookmark.
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FMA President Patricia Niehaus said Carolyn has dedicated herself to improving the quality of services the American people expect and deserve from the Environmental Protection Agency.
Federal manager of the year awarded Ed O 2010
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But this just goes to show you that in order to be a respected black man you must be submissive and wait your turn to get the respect you rightfully deserve from a white man, till whenever the white man gets comfortable enough to give it to you.
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What you deserve is to be completely ignored by every rational thinking person on here.
Think Progress » CNN poll: 47 percent of Americans want to repeal health care reform. 2010
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You want us to get what we deserve from the legislature?
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Someone needs to remind this bozo that the "up-and-down" economy that we don't deserve is the direct result of the last republican president's inability to deal with the looming financial crisis of 2008.
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